Ohio State notes: Meyer confirms giving advice to Florida Atlantic

COLUMBUS — Ohio State coach Urban Meyer confirmed on Monday he talked with another school about possible head coaching candidates.
News broke last week Florida Atlantic had spoken with OSU defensive coordinator Luke Fickell about its vacant head coaching position during the Buckeyes’ off week. While Meyer didn’t get into specifics, he said on Monday he did talk to FAU athletic director Pat Chun about a profile for their head-coaching position.
Chun is a former member of OSU’s athletic department.
“We went through some names, sure,” Meyer said of his conversation with Chun.
Meyer didn’t divulge the names from his staff he and Chun might have discussed.
“Pat’s a great friend. I have a lot of respect for Pat, and nothing more than I would like to see Pat Chun be successful,” Meyer said. “He’s also very respectful of this time of year for us.”
Meaning perhaps Meyer and Chun agreed to wait until the season’s end to discuss head-coaching possibilities on Ohio State’s staff.
Meyer said he and Chun did talk about recruiting in Florida.
“That’s mostly what we talked about,” Meyer said, “First of all, the profile of a coach and someone with that, to just go dive into South Florida recruiting, that’s not a place you want to dive into unless you’ve been there before.”Injury report
Ohio State has come out of the off week relatively healthy. Meyer gave updates on only a few players, including:
-- Starting right tackle Taylor Decker, who sprained an MCL vs. Purdue.
Said Meyer, “He’s good. We practiced today. Took him out of full contact. Tomorrow is full contact. Should be ready to go.”
-- Linebacker Josh Perry, who had surgery on a dislocated finger, but has been practicing at full speed ever since.
“He’s fine. In a little bit of a splint right now,” Meyer said.
-- Linebacker Curtis Grant, who has been battling a sprained ankle.
“He should be ready to go (Tuesday),” Meyer said.Still improving
Perhaps it’s because of the aformentioned injuries to Perry and Grant, but Meyer still wants to see more from his linebacker unit.
Ryan Shazier (72) and Grant (49) are first and second in tackles on the team. Perry is eighth with 33 stops. Those three aren’t Meyer’s chief concern, though.
“The depth is a major concern,” Meyer said. “We’re nowhere where we need to be as far as the expectation level of the linebacker play here.”
Meyer said Ohio State arguably has had the best linebackers in the country over the past decade.
“We need to get back to that,” Meyer said.Stock report
The stock of senior left tackle Jack Mewhort has skyrocketed, at least in Meyer’s mind.
The 6-foot-6, 308-pounder from Toledo St. John’s is part of an offensive line that has helped Ohio State’s offense amass 530 yards per game (301 on the ground, 229 in the air).
“Jack Mewhort has turned himself into a definite high-level pro prospect,” Meyer said. “He’s one of the best leaders I’ve been around. He’s a tough guy that I like to think people would say that Ohio State is a tough program, and he’s kind of the benchmark.
“He’s certainly lived up to his expectation level — maybe even a little bit more — because his expectation level is very high.”Squib kicks
-- Ohio State is 14-9 after an off week.
- Teams coached by Meyer are 35-2 when having longer prep time, whether it be off weeks or time before bowl games.
-- The game on Saturday will be the 100th between Ohio State and Illinois. OSU leads the series, 64-30-4. The win in 2010 was vacated.
-- The winner of the game will be awarded the Illibuck, a wooden replica of a turtle. The tradition started in 1925 with a live turtle, and is the second-longest trophy exchanged in the Big Ten behind the Little Brown Jug (which goes to the winner of the Minnesota-Michigan game).